WLW-AM (700) has terminated J.R. Gach a week after he called Japanese people “yellow monkeys” on the station's late-night talk show.

        The Albany, N.Y.-based talk host had been doing double duty for Clear Channel since Nov. 27.

        Darryl Parks, AM operations director for Cincinnati Clear Channel stations, said that Mr. Gach would no longer be heard 9 p.m.-midnight. He refused further comment.

        “It's a personnel matter, and we don't comment on personnel matters,” he said.

        Mr. Gach, a 30-year radio veteran, was hired for the night slot vacated in September by Bill Cunningham, who moved to 12:30-3 p.m. He continued to do his 3-7 p.m. show on Clear Channel's WGY-AM in Albany. WLW-AM managers had talked about having Mr. Gach move to Cincinnati this fall, after the Cincinnati Reds season which pre-empts the late-night talk show most of the spring and summer.

        The “yellow monkeys” remark was the latest of several controversies involving Mr. Gach.

        In 1995, he was suspended for three days without pay by WWL-AM in New Orleans for calling an African-American caller a “monkey,” an old racial slur. During his 2 1/2-year stint on WGR-AM in Buffalo, N.Y., he “antagonized African-Americans, Native Americans, senior citizens, postal workers, customs officers, feminists, Catholics and homosexuals,” according to a 1992 Buffalo News story. The paper said he told listeners he would kill his teen-age son if he discovered the boy was gay.

        Bill Boshears will fill WLW-AM's late-night void with his SciZone call-in show. A Toledo talk-show host will begin a tryout next week, Mr. Parks said.

        Tighter security: Clear Channel has tightened security at its Mount Adams broadcast center after WLW-AM talk-show hosts have received three death threats in the past two weeks.

        Mr. Cunningham received two death threats last week after he was criticized by Judge Nathaniel Jones of the Cincinnati-based U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals. Mr. Cunningham says police have tracked one of the calls to a Tristate pay phone.

        Sports Talk host Andy Furman received a threat two weeks ago, Mr. Parks said.

        Mr. Parks said the broadcast center, 1111 St. Gregory St., has been “locked down.” People coming to the station no longer can take the elevator to the fourth floor, where WLW-AM and WEBN-FM studios are located. Visitors must get off at the third floor, walk up a flight of stairs, and call the front desk to have someone unlock the fourth-floor lobby door. The stairway and parking garage also are monitored by video cameras.

        Shipman shelved: NBC correspondent Claire Shipman has accepted a boffo deal from ABC News, but she can't take it.

        Ms. Shipman, who broke a slew of stories during the Bush-Gore election debacle, has been offered a reported $600,000 contract — twice her NBC salary — to jump ship, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.

        Here's the catch: Under her NBC deal, which expired at the end of January, NBC has three months to decide whether to match ABC's offer. Peacock insiders say it's doubtful the network will match it. Meanwhile, Ms. Shipman is off the air and cooling her heels.

        At ABC, her duties would include: senior national correspondent for Good Morning America, a sub for GMA news anchor Antonio Mora and reporting for World News Tonight, Nightline and 20/20, among other broadcasts. And wouldn't she make an ideal substitute for GMA co-host Diane Sawyer?

        Mob hit: David Chase, creator of HBO's hit series The Sopranos, says he will quit the show next year to make feature films.

        The third season of The Sopranos debuts 9 p.m. Sunday March 4. He will leave the show after the fourth season, which will air in 2002.

        O'Connor honor: Television's Archie Bunker will receive a Life Achievement Award from the Christophers today.

        Carroll O'Connor is being honored “for his seminal contributions to the business and spirit of TV comedy and drama for the past 30 years,” the organization said in making the announcement.

        Mr. O'Connor, 76, is the sixth person in the 52-history of the Christopher Awards to receive the Life Achievement Award. He starred as Archie Bunker in the sitcom All in the Family and was one of the stars of the TV drama series In the Heat of the Night.

        The Christopher Awards annually honor writers, producers, directors and illustrators in publishing, film, broadcast television and cable industries whose works “affirm the highest values of the human spirit.”

       The Associated Press, Zap2it.com and Philadelphia Inquirer contributed to this report.

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